6 Ideas To Help Wedding Guests Save Money This Wedding Season

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Attending weddings can be stressful on your pocket—especially when you are flooded with multiple invites bang in the middle of the wedding season! Everything comes at a price, and more often than not, an expensive one—right from transportation to accommodation to gifts and dresses and everything over and above. But expenses as a wedding guest need not rocket out of the roof. A little bit of advance thinking and planning can rein in those expenses, leaving you free to enjoy without a pinched pocket.

Book in advance

Start planning your travel and stay for an out of town wedding as soon as you get to know the wedding dates. Catch all the early bird discounts. Reserve your cash back points and frequent flyer miles and other reward points for such wedding travel. Talk to other guests and group up. Travel together so you can split costs and also avail of bulk booking discounts. The same goes for accommodation too.

Gift in a group

Form a gift pool. That way you have to chip in less individually and yet get to buy a really nice gift that the wedding couple will cherish. This will require a fair amount of coordination and communication, but all that will be worth it when you show up with a gift that’s exactly what the couple wanted, and you didn’t have to worry about the costs either!

Your presence is a gift too

If traveling to and staying at the wedding destination ends up being a costly affair, do bear in mind that your presence is a gift by itself. The wedding couple will understand and appreciate that you took the efforts to be present at the wedding; they are not going to be upset about the lack of a gift. In that same spirit, do not be embarrassed about turning up without a gift or making do with an inexpensive/affordable one.

Rent or recycle your dress

Multiple weddings in one season does not mean that you need to stock up many new dresses. One less expensive option is to rent instead of buying outright. That way you can still show up in a new outfit each time, without having to burn your credit card. If you are not too finicky about a spanking new dress each time, you can buy one staple outfit and jazz it up with different accessories to create a new look at every wedding you attend—and of course accessorizing will be easier on your pocket than a whole new wardrobe!

save money on wedding season-tips for wedding guests

Save on the prenup celebrations

Bachelor and bachelorette parties can be expensive. Join the organizing committee so you can influence the celebrations. Suggest an affordable location or menu, and gently downscale if need be by pointing out the reasons and suitable alternatives. You can even plan different parties or celebrations at different times of the day so people can join in as per their budgets.

Prioritize weddings

Sometimes, despite all your best efforts to work out the finances, it might just be impossible for you to fit all the invites into your budget. It’s okay. Do not set off on a guilt trip. Choose the weddings that are important to you, plan to attend those, and politely decline the others. Every couple is fully prepared for a few invitation declines. You can always send your best wishes through flowers or a wedding greeting card or arrange to meet the couple in person at a later, convenient date.

Try out these simple tips to help you save cash, without having to live down your own desires or your hosts’ expectations!

Image: Fotoskarma| The TeamPhotographers

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